Fortnite vs PUBG : Which Battle Royale to Play?

For those who are joining us newly, you might have very less idea about what PUBG and Fortnite is. However, the regular gamers would have a good idea about what we are going to discuss in this post. First of all, PUBG stands for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds in which many different players battle against each other in an action-adventure survival type online game.

Fortnite is a game that is based on a similar concept but it has been developed by Epic Games and Bluehole developers and runs on the latest Unreal Engine 4.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds was released last year and took the entire online gaming community by storm. It took no time to climb the Steam’s concurrent user chart with millions of copies already sold. Seeing the popularity, we saw another game with identical concept coming into the picture this year with the name “Fortnite” that features similar battle Royale mode to the players. Since PUBG was the first of its kind, Fortnite tries to implement formulas to eliminate unwanted and unliked scenarios from the game before offering it to the players.

The user base of both the games has exploded and is increasing exponentially, all thanks to their uncertain and addictive gameplay. PUBG, that was released in 2017, comes from a small-time developer and that is the main reason why it possessed some loopholes. However, Fortnite is a new game which comes from a big name already established in the gaming industry and which possess the technical expertise to develop a game, which is why it is able to surpass PUBG in a very short period of time.

Also, almost a year have passed since the release of PUBG, it’s player base have already hit the maxima and very few new players join the game or community every day. Fortnite, on the other hand, is a new game which is still attracting more and more players every day. And why not? Until now, players only had PUBG game, one of its kind to play. But now, with the release of Fortnite, players actually have an option or choice to move on to a better game. Another reason why players are migrating to this new Fortnite game is that it is available on both PlayStation 4 as well as Xbox One console. PUBG too has migrated to Xbox One, but not all features have been transferred to the console mode. Also, we are not sure when PUBG will be released for the PlayStation console, which makes Fortnite an obvious choice for most of the gamers.

In both the games, more than 100 players are dropped from the sky with no items or equipment. Once they land on the ground, all of the need to look and scavenge for various items and weapons using which they can kill any other player that comes across. While they are looking for things for survival, they also need to keep in mind that the area of the map is continuously shrinking. If any of the players are caught outside the map, he or she dies instantly. While the people inside the map are forced to face the other opponents and fight them to death. So, there is only one player left in the end who survives and wins the game.

Looking at the current statistics, Fortnite Is having more concurrent players when compared to PUBG, as of February 2018. Though both the games have almost similar concepts, still there are a lot of this similarity between them in terms of style, content and a bit of gameplay. VR PUBG fan and we were really impressed with what Fortnite has to offer for the players. Here in this article, we are going to talk about all the similarities, dissimilarities, positives and negatives of both the games while comparing them side by side in each and every aspect. So let us find out which one among the PUBG and Fortnite is the best and which one you should get to enjoy this new online multiplayer genre.

Map

We were really surprised as well as excited to see that, despite having the same concept, both the games are having different maps which they offer to the players online. You can spot this difference while comparing both of them in terms of size. On one hand, the PUBG’s Miramar and Erangel maps are 8 x 8 km in size, while on the other hand, the Fortnite map is way smaller than its competitor.

I personally loved PUBG’s Erangel map when the game was released. At first, it is a huge land to explore. But once you have spent some time there and are accustomed to the surrounding, the place starts feeling very much real. There is a mixture of plains, towns, and hills. Obviously, it is the heart of the entire game and it is so beautifully designed that it will make you interact with it again and again.

But too much big is not always what works out. The map is definitely huge and beautiful, but it possesses few negatives as well. One of them is far traveling. This difference in size brings a difference in one of the major gameplay element of the game. In PUBG the players have to travel a long distance in case they do not land in the silent safe zone. For this, they require vehicles or some other mode of transport to take them to safety. On the other hand, the Fortnite Royal Battle map is smaller so you do not have to take the pain of traveling very far before encountering an opponent and getting to the safe point quickly. You also do not have vehicles to travel like in PUBG. This leaves PUBG players more on luck than skill after they are dropped from the sky.

There is also a big difference in the structure of the maps in both the games. Talking about PUBG first, Erangel is the first map that the game launched with and consists of a couple of Islands. Both the islands have a lot of loot stored in them. Sosnovka, the first Island is nothing but a military base. You can find a good gear and weapons here, but parachuting here is a very risky strategy. Since the Island is located far on the map, if the circle shrinks somewhere far from your point, then you will have to cross a whole lot of land as well as water to stay in the game.

There is a new map which has been launched as a part of PUBG December 2017 release in which a new desert map was revealed. No matter which map you play, change in environment elements and surrounding always brings up a new challenge for the player and thus keeps him or her busy.

On the other hand, Fortnite map is just one huge island with a river running across it and a Loot lake situated at the heart of the map. Loot lake is big and is about the size of an average map town. So, don’t just jump into it trying to cross it by swimming. Fortnite map is a lot more hill and full of structure which is high and a delightful spot for snipers. There is very less space to hide which result in much often encounter with opponents as well.

Fortnite offers a smaller map and a small map means that the player will have to traverse less in order to find a fight and the matches thus are going to be thrilling, full of surprises and short. The latest addition of 5 new location in the existing map is really good and the variation in those location has been successful in offering what players were missing in PUBG.

There is a lot of areas to hide and grow in PUBG which we found missing in Fortnite Battle Royale. However, the latter game received a major update in the month of January in which the company added a lot of new biomes, mazes as well as cities to the map, which has made the gameplay even more interesting.

While PUBG is offering a new map to the players, Fortnite Battle Royale is focusing on upgrading the current map to being new element into the picture. But when we are talking about PUBG vs Fortnite, the users have a well-defined choice. For those who are looking for a map which does not include long-distance travel, Fortnite is a perfect choice. While for the player who needs time and patience to develop strategies and become a war machine, PUBG map is all the vastness that you can imagine. It is also about time. If you have time to play a long match starting from scratch, PUGB is a clear choice. If you are looking for intense, short and more faster-paced deadly match, Fortnite should be the one you should get.

Gameplay

Bot the games have almost similar gameplay. So, both of the games have almost similar goals as well. The main aim in PUBG and Fortnite Battle Royale is that the players need to survive until the end of the game and until the map shrinks and ends around you. Both the giver of the games you option to play the game alone or along with a friend or friends.

Since PUBG has a bigger map and matches time, the number of weapons and items offered in PUBG are more than in Fortnite Battle Royale. While the list if huge in PUBG, it would be wrong to say that FOrtnite has fewer weapons. There is a whole long range of weapons to pick from and the developers have already promised of adding a lot more of them to the game in future updates. But these many items and weapons also make PUBG very complex and intense, something from which you are saved in Fortnite which offers short and fast games.

The next difference in the gameplay is in the construction element of the game. In PUBG, whenever the player gets outside the Map circle area, which is constantly shrinking, he or she starts losing health and ultimately dies. There is nothing that could save your player and you are forced to move towards the center and face other opponents in a deadly battle. In Fortnite, things are a bit different. Here the map starts to shrink some time, but the player can save themselves even when they are outside the map circle. Each player in the game can use the gather construction items they have gathered over the course of the game to construct buildings or structures that will protect them and will act as vantage points. Gather equipment, cut down trees to build walls, houses, building and even traps to either protect yourself or trap all the other opponents to death. But there structure protecting you cannot save you forever and is completely destructible.

This protection element brings a new twist to the game. The map is small enough that you could be easily caught or spotted when you start building that could offer you shelter. So, building something increases your chances of getting spotted and getting killed. But at the same time, in you are successful in creating a shelter for yourself, you get a huge advantage over other players wandering in the map.

Graphics

Both the games are a bit different in terms of visuals as well and it finally comes down to one’s personal preference what kind of environment they would like to play in. Fortnite has a cartoonish environment which performs better than PUGB as well. For sure running PUBG is a lot heftier than a cartoonish environment.

And it is obvious since PUBG Corp. is a much smaller team with not strong financial backup. Fortnite is much lighter with its cartoon style but it comes along with some disadvantages too. For example, it is very hard to hide in the natural elements when you are wearing bright colors. You will be easily spotted by the enemies and in the next shot, you are dead. In PUBG you can easily blend with your surrounding surprising your enemies out of nowhere.

Weapons and Items

The items and weapons that a player can use in a gameplay an important role in games like Fortnite and PUBG. However, the game we have here are totally different from each other in this regard.

The PlayerUnknown’s Battleground offers you a huge variety of weapons and items. Obviously, more than Fortnite Battle Royale. The cosmetic items can be found in the crates and so many options will definitely confuse any player who is new to this genre. However, in order to get to these crates, you will have to risk your life by traveling to a Military base and other such dangerous areas after you are dropped from the sky. There are three kinds of items, one which is common, second which are uncommon and third which are rare. In Fortnite these items are of different colors but there is no way to differentiate them in PUGB.

PUBG is more for serious shooters out there who like playing smart and win the game. So, if you want to play a game offering a huge list of weapons and items with a complex system behind it, PUBG is the one you should get.

On the other hand, Fortnite Battle Royale has weapons and items which are more accessible than complex. The initial weapons that the player receives are not at all good and that is visible from the color they have on them. If we look at the color system, grey is for common items, green for uncommon items, blue for rare items, purple for epic items, orange for legendary items.
Unlike PUBG, in Fortnite you get good weapons in chests which are glowing and you won’t have to risk your character’s life for them. You can hear some kind of soft twinkling sound when you are near them. Also, they appear at the same spot in a single round. So, don’t forget to check the spot time to time to get more unique items that may help you win the round.

We would recommend you to go for Fortnite only if you are new to online shooters. It might seem filmy or silly initially, but in PUBG things become more intense and you might face a lot of difficulties to adapt to its environment in the beginning.

Item Looting

We have already covered a bit of looting in the previous section. Looting in the Fortnite game is very easy and simple as you know best items are found in glowing chests. For weapons, you will have to raid various areas and houses before you can find something big to damage the opponent heavily. A player can carry up to 5 weapons at a time in Fortnite Battle Royale.

PUBG is more deep, intense and complex than Fortnite. The players have helmets, pants, chest armor, shoes etc. as items that act as your armor. Fortnite also offers you different kinds of skins, each one of which is going to change the appearance of the weapon you hold as well.

Shooting

Fortnite offers simple shooting mechanism, way simpler than PUBG. Also, the Fortnite Battle Royale games are less tense than the competitor. This makes it a better option for those who are looking for casual and not serious games. The recoil, aiming etc varies from player to player and we recommend you to try both the games to find out which one you are comfortable with.

Platform

Right now, after the December release, PUBG is available for PC and Xbox One consoles. However, the Xbox One content is still lagging behind PC version in terms of few features. Fortnite Battle Royale, on the other hand, is available for PC, Xbox One as well as PS4 consoles.

Fornite’s performance is consistent in all the machines, ut you need to have a good PC configuration for that. PUBG works great on PC, however, players are reporting few bugs on the Xbox One console version of the game. But the developers have been trying hard to fix the problems with regular patch updates which will ultimately result in a better game in the near future. There is no word whether PUBG will be released for PS4 or not. But still, there are rumors about PUBG for PS4 releasing in somewhere at the end of 2018.

But if you enjoy your games on PC, you can go for either of them. The performance of both the games is pretty good on PC and you should look for other factors for deciding which one to pick among PUBG and Fortnite Battle Royale.

Price and In-Game Purchases

Fortnite Battle Royale is free to play for all the platforms. So, it is a great opportunity for the new players to try out what this genre is all about. Fortnite is free to download and also receives free updates from time to time, integrating various feedback from the users into the game.

The players have the option to buy season passes which will offer them various in-game rewards and loot rewards for completing different daily challenges.

On the other side, PUBG is a game that the players will have to buy and there are in-game crates to purchase as well. You will need various cosmetic items to buy the crates, but you can also purchase them using the game money. You will have to buy the PUBG game from Steam for $29.99.

Fortnite vs PUBG – The Verdict

All in all, from the top, both the games are very similar. Both of them are online action battle royale games that allow the player to play along with many other players with a shrinking map and other exciting scenarios.

There are few minor and few big things that separate the games from each other and it entirely depends upon the player preference, which one they like better. If you want a few colorful and cartoonish graphics, Fortnite is the one you should go for. For those who are looking for more realistic experience and intense weapon system, bigger maps and serious gameplay, PUBG is the one to pick.